Chamber Blog

At the Brainerd City Council meeting last night, they heard a presentation from Brainerd Lakes Chamber CEO, Lisa Paxton about the budgeting priorities of government. Lisa shared highlights from the recent Chamber survey about the economy. The Brainerd-Baxter Business Council has offered to give assistance to the City in future budgeting discussions by sharing their experiences with budget cuts. What is the City's shared vision and what is the road map for getting there? An example of the managing for results process was distributed which highlighted measurable results.

The Council approved forgiving $100,000 of the Wausau Paper revolving loan after some discussion and hearing from two Brainerd citizens. No significant change in the environmental effects of the paper plant are foreseen with the expansion in production.

Whether or not to raise City fees for building, fire, and planning permits was an issue of much discussion last night. Several Councilors mentioned they received phone calls voicing concern over the fee increase and the Council did not approve raising fees for permits.

The Council approved paying the lease and continuing to use the BNSF parking lot north of Front Street in Downtown for the next year.

The Personnel & Finance Committee began a discussion of the City's business subsidy policy, but took no action on it. Sheila Haverkamp, BLADC, assisted with this discussion and will continue to do so as needed in the future.

As always, the Brainerd Dispatch has great coverage of the meeting.

Emily Northey, Chamber Main Street Coordinator, enorthey@explorebrainerdlakes.com

Labels: 2010 budget, BLADC, Brainerd City Council, Government, Survey, Wasau

The chambers were packed at last night's City Council meeting. Most of the people were there for a public hearing covering several street reconstruction projects in the city – mainly in residential areas.

The Brainerd City Council approved moving forward with only a few of the many street reconstruction and resurfacing projects planned for Summer 2010. All of the projects proposed projects were on the first year of the 5-year Capital Improvement Program because of their age and condition. Several residents along the streets spoke during the meeting with questions, concerns about cost or ongoing street maintenance.
Street projects approved include:

• North 5th Street – Washington to Bluff
• North 9th Street – Kingwood to Fir Street
• Holly Street – North 3rd to North 10th Street
• Kingwood Street – North 2nd Street to Washington Street
• Tyrol Drive
• NW 2nd Street – Washington to James Street

The Council approved doing background checks for people on City commissions, committees, employees, and license applicants.

The Council approved a 5-year lease for the Northwoods league (Brainerd Lunkers) to continue to use the Mills Field.

Currently the City Charter requires that property owners pay for sidewalk repairs 100% and the Council is considering changing this. To that end, they asked the Charter Commission to return drafted Charter changes with a recommendation of whether or not to have the public vote on this issue.

In an effort to become more competitive for state or federal grants, the Council approved having staff prepare these projects to be more "shovel ready":

1. City's 5 year plan for street and utilities improvements
   
2. Utility extension to the airport
3. Business 371 realignment and reconstruction

Emily Northey, Chamber Main Street Coordinator, enorthey@explorebrainerdlakes.com

Labels: Brainerd City Council, Government, Shovel-Ready, Sidewalk Repairs

During last night's Brainerd City Council meeting, City Housing Inspector Bill Kronstedt presented information on administrative citations. Other cities have used administrative citations to more effectively decrease nuisance calls, increase property values, and free up the court systems.

Typical violations addressed by administrative citations in other communities include vehicle, signs, trees, nuisance, building violations, hazardous conditions, etc. The current ordinance addresses administrative citations, but as soon as a violation is contested (e.g. the person doesn't want to clean-up their back yard) it goes into the court system causing delays and labeling citizens as criminals for what are essentially civil matters.

The Council had some questions about the details of such a system, but will ask those again once more research and writing has been completed. The City Council approved directing staff to begin drafting ordinances to implement an administrative citation method of addressing violations.

Mayor Wallin presented Robert Sherman with a Tower Award for his service on the Transportation Committee and Planning Commission.

The City Council approved recognizing multi-family housing as residential, not commercial, for the purposes of waste removal to encourage recycling.


Emily Northey, Chamber Main Street Coordinator, enorthey@explorebrainerdlakes.com.

Labels: Administrative Citations, Brainerd City Council, Government, Recycling

The City Council scheduled its annual retreat for Monday, February 8 at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall and agreed that it will be televised and last no more than two hours.

They also approved pursuing a request to amend the liquor zone area west of the East Brainerd Mall (Cub Foods) to include the old County Market building. The realtor for the property stated in a letter that allowing alcohol to be served on the property would make it more desirable for redevelopment by restaurants. The public hearing will be held on Tuesday, January 19 at 7:30 p.m.

The City Council accepted with regret the resignation of Bob Sherman from the Planning Commission and the Transportation Commission.

The Specialty Food Shop saga continues. The issue is whether or not to allow coffee bean roasting in specialty food shops (i.e. coffee shops). The City Planner brought two versions of the zoning ordinance amendment before the City Council. Both versions add Specialty Food Shops to the Neighborhood Business District (B-2) as a conditional use, however only one version allowed on-site coffee roasting. The City Council approved holding a public hearing for the ordinance amendment which would not allow coffee bean roasting in Specialty Food Shops.


Emily Northey, Chamber Main Street Coordinator, enorthey@explorebrainerdlakes.com.

Labels: Brainerd City Council, Coffee Bean Roasting, County Market Building, Government

I had the pleasure of being in the audience at last night’s Brainerd City Council meeting.
The City Council reduced its preliminary levy by $150,000 after a handful of previous motions failed to pass. They also passed their 2010 budget. Tom Phelps of Brainerd Public Utilities presented plans for their 2010 operating and capital budget. The City Council approved it.

The College Drive project will be postponed until the next construction season.
T&B Pawn requested a variance in the number of parking stalls required to be provided for their future location on Washington Street; the City Council approved the request.

The Safety and Public Works Committee met earlier. They heard a proposal to make the City better prepared to apply for shovel-ready project grant applications; the new task force will meet next Tuesday to review potential projects.

Emily Northey, Chamber Main Street Coordinator, enorthey@explorebrainerdlakes.com.

Labels: 2010 budget, Brainerd City Council, College Drive, Government, Shovel-Ready

I attended the Brainerd City Council meeting last night.

The Council approved 6-1 to rezone the block bounded by South 5th Street, Laurel Street, South 4th Street and Front Street from B-4 (General Commercial) District to B-3 (Central Business) District; this is just west of City Hall. The primary difference between the two zoning districts is that the B-3 District does not require parking to be provided.

The North Brainerd Neighborhood Street Light Pilot Project will be postponed for further discussion until Feb-ruary.

The Council approved 7-0 amending the Brainerd City Code relating to on-sale liquor zones and license limita-tions. With this adoption, a wall between the bar and restaurant parts of a restaurant will no longer be needed and the bar area may be up to 49% of the restaurant.

The Brainerd City Council also approved the preliminary design and authorized final design for the South 8th Street Reconstruction Project (Oak Street to Washington Street). Approved 7-0.
The preliminary layout will be submitted to BPU for lighting recommendations. After BPU has looked at it, the consultants from SEH will bring it back to the City Council to review. That is when the locations of decorative lighting should be discussed. There are 16 COBRA lights currently. Some discussion to have some decorative lighting between Maple and Front Streets.
Description of project above ground: 10' trail on east side of the street and 10 sidewalk on west side. A grassy boulevard and trees is shown between the sidewalk or trail and the street along most of South 8th Street (Laurel to Washington Street is an exception to this). Parallel parking would be on both sides; angle parking wasn't able to fit along this road. The road will narrow to 2-lane from its current 4-lanes, except for two blocks south of Washington Street due to stacking needs and turning lane onto Oak Street.

The City Council will hold the 2010 Levy and Budget Public Hearing on Monday, December 14, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. at Brainerd City Hall, 501 Laurel Street.

Emily Northey, Chamber Main Street Coordinator, enorthey@explorebrainerdlakes.com.

Labels: Brainerd City Council, Government, South 8th Street, Zoning

I attended the Brainerd City Council and Safety & Public Works meeting tonight, November 16. I know these posts are supposed to be short, but so much happened at the meeting that this one is a little longer.

Before the meeting, Mayor Wallin had vetoed an ordinance regarding Specialty Food Shops in B-2 zoning districts because it contains the wording “coffee cannot be roasted on site” because he felt the wording was too restrictive against one type of specialty shop. When this came back before the City Council the mayor's veto was upheld and the ordinance was sent back to the Planning Commission.

The City Council held a public hearing and final reading of the ordinance about hunting regulations and the discharge of firearms in the City of Brainerd. The ordinance allows the discharge of firearms for hunting or target practice on private parcels of land over five acres if they meet all other requirements under state law, have permission of the property owner, and are authorized by annual City permit.

The City Council voted to increase residential rental registration rates from $24/year/unit to $32/year/unit with a 4-2 vote.

A first reading was held for rezoning the block located west of City Hall on Laurel and 4th Streets from B-4 (General Business) to B-3 (Central Business District). The first reading was held with a 5-1 vote. The second reading and public hearing is scheduled for the next Council meeting on December 7.

The first reading was held for a Liquor Zone amendment regarding the definition of the maximum space in a restaurant that may be used as a bar and eliminating the need for a wall dividing the two areas.

A committee will be formed to bring a recommendation for managing the use of the public right-of-way including the encroachment by signs, fences, and parking. Liability is also planned to be discussed. The committee will include two Councilors to be appointed at a later time.

The winter stars will not be put up on Washington Street or South Sixth Street this season in Brainerd due to energy and cost concerns. It was decided on a 4-2 vote.

The next public informational meeting for the 2010 South 8th Street Street/Utility Reconstruction Project will be Tuesday, December 1 at 6:30 p.m. at Brainerd City Hall.

Emily Northey, Chamber Main Street Coordinator, enorthey@explorebrainerdlakes.com.

Labels: Brainerd City Council, Government, Hunting, Zoning